A few weeks ago, the Swedish national team in football came to Bratislava to play against Slovakia at Tehelné Pole, the home field of the football club Slovan Bratislava. After 40 minutes, Sweden was in the lead with 2-0 after goals scored by Ayari and Sema. But, as the match reached 90 minutes, the result was 2-2 and both nations got 1 point each. As a result, whether it will be Slovakia or Sweden winning the group depends on the outcome of the match in Stockholm at Friends Arena on November 16.
During the European Championship in 2020 (2021), Sweden won 1-0 against Slovakia. In other words, Sweden has a good tradition when it comes to at least getting one point or winning against Slovakia. But, that doesn’t have to mean anything, because everything comes to an end one time or another.
The math is quite easy. If Slovakia wins the match against Sweden, Slovakia will win the group and get a better chance at reaching the World Championships in football. If Sweden wins the match, then Sweden gets a better chance at reaching the World Championships in football. If they play a draw, then the final matches of both teams will be what decides which team will win the group.
In Sweden, the TV channel TV4 will broadcast the match between Sweden and Slovakia at Friends Arena, while RTV/AMC has the broadcasting rights in Slovakia. You can read more on the topic of watching Nations League and other content on TV4Play outside Sweden at https://www.svensktvutomlands.com/.
Will Sweden or Slovakia win on November 16?
I asked ChatGPT for a prediction, and the conclusion of a long text was the following:
“Given Sweden’s historical strength and home advantage, they might be favored to win. However, Slovakia has the potential to pull off a surprise, especially if they defend well and capitalize on counterattacks. Overall, Sweden might be the slight favorite, but Slovakia could make it a close contest, depending on the dynamics closer to the match date.“
I don’t really know for sure, but I do keep Sweden as favorites to win the match, first of all because of their advantage with the home field. But, since we are a Bratislava Guide, we cheer for Slovakia and we hope that all the key players will be at their best and make sure that Slovakia gets back into Nations League level B once again.
It is obvious that Slovakia needs to stop Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres, as the players have scored seven goals in total during the recent four Nations League matches. That is a lot.
David Strelec is the only player with three goals in the Slovakian squad, but if he is at his best together with Ondrej Duda, then Slovakia will cause big trouble for Sweden.
